Sunday, November 30, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Listen to Keith Secola and Charlie Hill, with the best sounds and the best comedy in Indian country, at the AIM-West 40-year reunion. Listen to "Comedy Indian Style," and Keith Secola on Earthcycles: http://www.earthcycles.net/mendo/
Earthcycles broadcast the reunion live in San Francisco, which included Bill Means, Madonna Thunder Hawk, Clyde Bellecourt, Pat Bellanger, Lehman Brightman, Lenny Foster, Mike Flores, 'Berkeley Beyond Borders,' and others. Listen to the speakers and Earthcycles interviews from the three day conference in San Francisco: http://www.earthcycles.net/mendo/
Listen to KPFA on Alcatraz Island during Thursday's sunrise gathering:http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=29630
Photo Brenda Norrell

By Brenda NorrellOAKLAND, Calif. -- Paintings by Paul Owns the Sabre, Lakota from Cheyenne River, S.D., went on display Sunday at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland, Calif. Owns the Sabre spoke on the cultural genocide underway in the United States and the horror of boarding schools for Indian people. Owns the Sabre said he will hold a special giveaway and give all his paintings away, as they were not done for money. He encouraged Indian youths to learn their songs and their language, and to do their art. The reception included a meal of buffalo stew and fry bread and songs by the All Nation Singers. Among the guests were Long Walkers Harry, Aisyln, Tomas and Brenda, who accompanied Owns the Sabre on the Longest Walk northern route across America in 2008. In a tribute to Owns the Sabre, it was pointed out that he had undertaken a lifetime of walks and runs across America. The show of paintings continues through Dec. 13. Photo Brenda Norrell

CRESCENT VALLEY -- Western Shoshone protested Barrick Gold and demanded a halt to the destruction, as Barrick rips up the pine trees on sacred Mount Tenabo by the roots.Writer Lisa Wolf conveys the comments of Shoshone to the perpetrators of genocide on this sacred mountain. As Barrick's global assault on Indigenous territories continues, the Shoshone have filed a court action to halt the desecration now underway on Mount Tenabo.The Western Shoshone grandmothers told the Barrick employee, “This is our treaty land. It was a treaty made with the federal government. It was not made with a foreign nation. And it is a foreign mining company that has come into our country and is destroying our mountain, our land, our food, our medicine and they have no respect.”Shoshone Elder Bernice Lalo said, “I came here because from our beliefs that we practice here on the land, we’re protesting because they will be destroying the pine trees which is very important to the land. We’re protesting because this is our land. No two ways about it; and when they come and destroy things, they’re destroying our spirituality, our ways, our beliefs” for “our children, our children’s children. So, we’re all here to protest that” because “it can’t go on. It’s perpetrating genocide against the Native American people. And we are not the only Native people suffering this distress. It is happening world over; but we happen to be Western Shoshones and this is our land and we’re protesting the poisoned water, the destruction of the land, the road we’re standing on here, the big machines: everything that the mining industry stands for. They say they’re doing it responsibly, but they’re not because when they leave the Western Shoshone people will still be here and the land will be barren.” Lalo said, “They reclaim something, but only with weeds and mounds like a big burial ground and that’s what they’re leaving us. And they’re never going to clean it out.”Carrie Dann told Fennemore, “We want the tree cutting stopped now,” explaining, “That’s our food.”Mary Gibson asked the Barrick employee, “What are you leaving for your grandchildren? Where is your heart? Where is that? Do you understand how important this is? This is our life.”Dann said, “When you destroy the earth, where is the food coming from?”One of the Grandmothers suggested, “You guys go and tear down the Vatican, the Mormon Tabernacle” which “actually have things stored. Because that’s what you’re doing to us for gold.” Read more of the Western Shoshone comments to the perpetrators of genocide:http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/11/shoshone-grandmothers-to-barrick-gold.html

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The AIM-West 40-year reunion concluded Friday night with a concert in San Francisco. Photo Brenda Norrell. (Double click to enlarge.) Listen to three days of audios, including speakers, interviews and the sounds of Keith Secola and Charlie Hill:

At the AIM-West Reunion, Dr. Loco and the Rockin' Jalapenos were a rockin' finale to a great week of events in San Francisco. The Bob Young Project also performed for the incredible concert. Brief video by Brenda Norrell. (Click arrow to watch.)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Western Shoshone protest Barrick Gold's destruction on sacred Mount Tenabo on Wednesday. Shoshone call for help to establish an encampment.

Article by Brenda Norrell

Photos by Lisa WolfCRESCENT VALLEY, Newe Sogobi (Nevada) -- While most Americans enjoyed Thanksgiving this week, Western Shoshone protested the devastation on their sacred Mount Tenabo, as Barrick Gold ripped out pine trees by the roots on this ceremonial mountain for gold mining.As Barrick Gold continues its practice of genocide, targeting Indigenous Peoples territories around the world, Barrick is destroying Mount Tenabo for one of the United States largest open pit gold mines. The Cortez Hills Expansion Project is at the flank of the mountain where Shoshone carry out sweatlodges and other ceremonies. (See protest photos at http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ )Shoshone called for help and an immediate encampment to protect sacred Mount Tenabo.Earlier this week, several Western Shoshone tribes and non-profit indigenous and environmental organizations filed a restraining order in the federal District Court in Reno against the construction of the proposed mine site.Unable to wait for the hearing that is scheduled for early next week and the mine’s continual slaughter of the pinion forest, the Western Shoshone grandmothers and supporters traveled to the site demanding Barrick to stop cutting the trees."As heavy machinery used to tear out the pinion trees came to halt upon the arrival of the Shoshones, Barrick Gold employees ignored the Shoshone’s demand that they cease the clear cutting. They witnessed piles of pinion and other trees strewn across the landscape and unfenced polluted ponds," Western Shoshone said in a joint statement.“Today we went to a war zone, a war zone against the trees by the Barrick Gold Company. If people can eat or drink gold to sustain life, maybe we can call it a sacrifice of the life of trees, trees that gives us pine nuts and other medicinal uses,” stated Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmother and executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.The Western Shoshone had lived in the area of Mount Tenabo since the beginning of time.Today it is the homelands to local Shoshones and continues to be the home to Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal foods and plants as well as a site for spiritual and ceremonial practices. Mount Tenabo is in the heart of Western Shoshone territory and is part of the ancestral lands that has been identified and recognized as Western Shoshone territory through the ratification of the Treaty of Ruby Valley between the Western Shoshone and the United States.“The mining company and the Bureau of Land Management are trespassing on the Western Shoshone treaty land and are destroying our mountains, trees, food, medicine and leaving dirty polluted water ponds that are wide open making it unsafe to the birds and animals. Why doesn’t the mining company go dig up the Vatican or the Mormon Tabernacle instead of Western Shoshone lands, I’m sure they will find gold there, because this is what you are doing to our mountains and trees," said Mary McCloud, Western Shoshone grandmother.Earlier this year, Barrick attorneys halted release of a book exposing the global genocide and atrocities of Barrick Gold. The book launch for Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, edited by Alain Denault and the Collectif Ressources d'Afrique out of Montréal, was halted when the authors and publishers (Édition Écosociété) received letters from a law firm representing Barrick Gold, according to the Dominion in Canada.Barrick has also sued The Guardian and The Observer over published articles about the Bulyanhulu massacre in Tanzania.The book exposes Barrick's advantageous mining contracts, partnerships with arms dealers and mercenaries in the Great Lakes region, miners buried alive in Tanzania, an "involuntary genocide" by poisoning in Mali, brutal expropriations in Ghana, using people from the Ivory Coast for pharmaceutical testing, devastating hydroelectric projects in Senegal and the savage privatization of the railway system in West Africa.For more information, or to help, Western Shoshone: Western Shoshone Defense Project

Thursday, November 27, 2008

By Brenda NorrellCensored NewsSAN FRANCISCO -- Morning Star Gali said Shellmound Walkers will protest the Emeryville shopping center built on Ohlone graves on Friday, Nov. 28. Friday is known as "Black Friday," the largest shopping day of the year.

"People are shopping on the graves of our ancestors," Gali said, as Native Americans departed from the Alcatraz Sunrise Ceremony on Thursday.

Shellmound Walkers will leave the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland Friday morning and walk to Emeryville, across from San Francisco. The protest will be at Shellmound Drive and Ohlone Way in Emeryville. The mock Shellmound there is "very disrepectful," she said

Gali said the walkers message to shoppers on Black Friday is, "Don't shop on our graves. Don't continue to desecrate these burial sites."

.By Brenda NorrellOAKLAND, Calif. -- Long Walkers from the northern route 2008 at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland on Thursday, after the Alcatraz Sunrise Gathering: Paul, Tomas, Sage, Shaleen and Aislyn. The five month walk began in February of 2008 at Alcatraz and concluded in Washington D.C. in July 2008. Some of the Long Walkers are now on the Shellmound Walk, which will protest the desecration of the Ohlone Shellmounds. A shopping center in Emeryville was constructed on Ohlone graves. The protest on Friday comes as the Shellmound Walkers conclude a two week walk. Photos Brenda Norrell

DID YOU VISIT YOUR RELATIVES TODAY? IS THIS PALESTINE OR SOON-TO-BE-ONGWEHONWE COMMUNITIES?

MOHAWK NATION NEWS

No v. 25, 2008. It’s called “warehousing of surplus humanity." All humans are equal. No one can decide that we are surplus. The object is to remove the target people from existence. This is real, folks!

First, the territory of the targets is occupied. Their communities, work, education, finances and colonial apparatus are controlled by the outside forces. The agenda is carried out by the bureaucrats and military. They are trained in oppression using non-lethal weaponry to stay within the bounds of the UN human rights conventions.

A fascist state needs an uneducated non-resisting people. To achieve this, lots of interference in every day life, schooling and economy are priorities. The youth are specially interfered with. Places of work, schools or commerce are not set up within the communities forcing them to work or attend school or shop outside.

The target group is usually isolated from anybody who could help them. They are demonized. There is a media blackout so that the perpetrators can “warehouse” other victims later on who will be unprepared and unable to defend themselves.

Eventually walls are put up around the targets with checkpoints everywhere. Food and essentials are stopped from going in and out. Electricity is turned off. Water is undrinkable. The bus breaks down. Detours are set up everywhere forcing them to spend hours to carry on their normal lives. “Flying [mobile] check points” are set up everywhere on a permanent or temporary basis. They can arrive and stay for minutes or hours at any place anytime. Anybody can be arrested for going to meetings to discuss their plight.

The situation gets worse. Blockages of the community become more often and more severe. Sometimes nothing goes in or out. Electricity is cut off more often so that raw sewage flows in the streets. Houses can’t be heated. Refrigerated food goes bad.

To instill fear schools, institutions, hospitals and even homes are threatened or burnt down or trashed. Teachers, workers and service providers stop giving services “to protest the blockades” or “dangers” they are forced to work in. Papers, books and communications are kept out or controlled. No one gets trained to be a doctor or professional which are necessities in such communities. 90% have no job. It comes to a point where some families can only send one child to school or out to work. Each family is allowed one member to have a job.

Because of the system of checkpoints and walls, workers and students have to leave home and live near schools or their place of work to avoid 4 hours a day of travel which normally takes 20 minutes.

The targets are constantly reminded they are being watched. The police or special army units walk into their homes, at 2:00 am, without knocking, ask for ID and then take them to the police station. They study the personality of the targets and look for collaborators or spies to work with them. They take unflattering pictures after the interrogation or torture so the targets look like criminals.

Nighttime is the worst time. The targets are kept awake. They could be taken away at any moment. Soldiers come inside, point guns and start beating anyone in their sight. They yell, “Give me your ID." People are forced outside without shoes or proper clothing. Hundreds of their community members are on their knees in the streets, sometimes until 3 am. Names are called out by the police on speakers. Some are taken away and interrogated for 5 hours and asked if they saw anyone throw stones or speak badly of them. This excuse is usually bogus.

There are 7 to 8 hour waits at the checkpoints. Students or workers can only go home once every 6 to 7 months to visit their family. They have to sneak there and sometimes have to hide out all night. They can’t use the main roads and are forced to go into the woods or mountains. All of these atrocities are video taped by the oppressors with cameras everywhere. These are for study, training, propaganda and their own perverted pleasure.

The students or workers have to leave 2 hours before class or work to go 5 minutes away. Everybody is fingerprinted at the checkpoints. All their bags are checked. Their iris is scanned and their biometric identification with all manner of information and misinformation is scanned.

Curfews are set up throughout the communities and towns. Mobile military checkpoints are put on tanks and jeeps with snipers watching over them. Communities, schools or institutions are closed down at will. The strategy is to make sure students cannot study or people cannot work, meet or move around. If they object, the children, women and men can be “detained” or beaten or even shot.

The main gates have high security electronic doors. There are “blind” checkpoints where military jeeps suddenly appear and demand IDs. People are forced to wait for minutes or hours. No one can complain during this examination. The police or military can invade the community or shoot and throw tear gas at anytime if they perceive a security threat. Anyone can be jailed. Young men are in put in prisons. Beautiful young girls are forced to take off all their clothes and crawl on their hands and knees through the checkpoints. They are made to eat food that is forbidden by their culture or they are allergic to.

Palestinians say this is how they are being treated by the Israelis. Canadian police and military are being sent to Israel for training on “crowd control." Many of these fascist tactics were used on us during the 1990 Mohawk Oka Crisis. 5,000 Canadian soldiers surrounded three of our communities [Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and Akwesasne] behind razor wire and fully armed troops. It was because we opposed the desecration of our burial and ceremonial sites. We were surrounded by walls of police, soldiers, armaments and checkpoints for 78 days. We had to wait for hours to get through them while suffering specially designed humiliation from the soldiers and police.

Canadian soldiers went into Mohawk homes purportedly looking of weapons. They smashed everything and even s--t on the floors. Many of us were arrested for no reason or for “political activities”, which is called “administrative detention."

Canada is no goody-goody! Canada collected much secret “information” about us. They refuse to disclose it because their misconceptions and misinterpretations could be challenged. Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to change the laws so that the youth as young as 14 years old can be sent to adult prisons! This looks like it’s aimed at our Ongwehonwe youth.

How can such cruel conditions be created by members of a well- educated nation whose ancestors were subject to unspeakable abuse? Canada is bringing back these practices that originally came from here. The South Africans learned “apartheid” from Canada. Laws and policies were passed here to mistreat and demoralize us and cut down our population. The colonial strategy included genocide, the pass system and mental and moral abuse. Hitler praised Canada and the U.S. for their thoroughness in getting rid of the “Indian problem”. He copied the reservation and residential school systems for his concentration camps. Like Canada he tried to instill hopeless, to break down our spirit and to kill us off. It will never work. We will always be here on our land.

Western Shoshone Grandmothers Day of Resistance – Devastation and Destruction WitnessedBy Western Shoshone Defense Project

(November 27, 2008, Crescent Valley, Newe Sogobi (Nevada). Western Shoshone grandmothers and other Western Shoshone supporters gathered in solidarity yesterday to oppose the clear cutting of pinion trees at the spiritual Mount Tebano where Barrick Gold Company is planning one of the country’s largest open pit gold mines known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project at the flank of the Mountain. Earlier this week, several Western Shoshone tribes and non-profit indigenous and environmental organizations have filed a restraining order in the federal District Court in Reno, NV, against the construction of the proposed mine site.

Unable to wait for the hearing that is scheduled for early next week and the mine’s continual slaughter of the pinion forest, the Western Shoshone grandmothers and supporters traveled to the site demanding Barrick to stop cutting the trees. As heavy machinery used to tear out the pinion trees came to halt upon the arrival of the Shoshones, Barrick Gold employees ignored the Shoshone’s demand that they cease the clear cutting. They witnessed piles of pinion and other trees strewn across the landscape and unfenced polluted ponds. “Today we went to a war zone, a war zone against the trees by the Barrick Gold Company. If people can eat or drink gold to sustain life, maybe we can call it a sacrifice of the life of trees, trees that gives us pine nuts and other medicinal uses,” stated Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmother and Executive Director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

The Western Shoshone had lived in the area of Mount Tenabo since the beginning of time. Today it is the homelands to local Shoshones and continues to be the home to Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal foods and plants as well as a site for spiritual and ceremonial practices. Mount Tenabo is in the heart of Western Shoshone territory and is part of the ancestral lands that has been identified and recognized as Western Shoshone territory through the ratification of the Treaty of Ruby Valley between the Western Shoshone and the United States. “The mining company and the Bureau of Land Management are trespassing on the Western Shoshone treaty land and are destroying our mountains, trees, food, medicine and leaving dirty polluted water ponds that are wide open making it unsafe to the birds and animals. Why doesn’t the mining company go dig up the Vatican or the Mormon Tabernacle instead of Western Shoshone lands, I’m sure they will find gold there, because this is what you are doing to our mountains and trees, stated Mary McCloud, another Western Shoshone grandmother.Western Shoshone Defense ProjectSo-Ho-Bi (South Fork) office:775-744-2565 (fax and phone)Main office:P.O. Box 211308Crescent Valley, NV 89821Newe Sogobi775-468-0230775-468-0237 (fax)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

MOUNT TENABO, WESTERN SHOSHONE TERRITORY --Western Shoshone are calling for immediate support and an encampment to protect the trees being ripped out by the roots for gold mining by Barrick Gold on sacred Mount Tenabo. Western Shoshone protested the destruction today and halted the damage for three hours. "They are piling up the trees like dead bodies," one of the Shoshone said. Western Shoshone Bill Larson urged supporters to come immediately and bring water, food, warm clothing, blankets and firewood for an encampment.

At the AIM West Reunion, Lenny Foster, Dine', and Agnes Faye Williams, Seneca, on Earthcycles radio. Listen to archives from the AIM West 40 year reunion.Listen to archives, click on "AIM Treaty Council Shellmound Walkers"http://www.earthcycles.net/

Restraining Order Requested – Shoshone Grandmothers Plan Resistance Day on Proposed Mine Site

Photo: The late Mary Dann with sister Carrie Dann/WSDP

From Shoshone Grandmothers

CRESCENT VALLEY, Newe Sogobi ( Nevada). As the holidays approach and the world watches President-elect Obama and the bailouts; back in Nevada, home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it’s business as usual. Late yesterday, attorneys for several Western Shoshone tribes and non-profit indigenous and environmental organizations filed a request in the federal District Court in Reno, NV seeking a restraining order against the construction of one of the country’s largest open pit gold mines on the flank of spiritual Mt. Tenabo. The mine company has already begun demolition of the pinyon forest with heavy machinery on the site ripping out trees at a reported rate of 30 acres per day. As they await a Court hearing and feeling compelled to take immediate action, tomorrow, a group of Shoshone grandmothers will travel to the proposed mine site to conduct a day of Resistance to the destruction of the area and the approval of the mine by the United States. Mt. Tenabo is a well-known home to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and ceremonial plants and rocks and continues to be used to this day by Shoshone for spiritual ceremonies and cultural practices. Over the years, tens of thousands of individuals and organizations from across the United States and around the world have joined with the Shoshone and voiced their opposition to this mine –in fact, the mine is being referred to as the “most opposed mine in the world”.

“We want them off this mountain, this is a spiritual genocide what’s going on; destroying our mountain is destroying our beliefs. Removing water is death to the mountains. No way. We will take whatever action we need to – we’re going through the U.S. courts and we will stand on this Mountain in support of her and call on those people around the world to stand with us in solidarity.” Stated Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone Grandmother, Executive Director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (the alternate to the Nobel Peace Prize).

Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Canada, plans to construct and operate the mine, known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project. The area is located entirely within the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 900 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land.

In 2002 and 2003 the BLM conducted a series of armed seizures in the same area, of the Dann family’s cattle and horses, claiming the Danns were “trespassing” on public lands. The Danns, along with other Western Shoshone, have challenged the U.S. claims to their ancestral and treaty lands as recognized by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which recognized Western Shoshone rights in much of Nevada. These legal battles went all the way to the Supreme Court, and on to International Fora. In March 2006 the Western Shoshone received a ruling from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CERD, a treaty body set up by the United Nations and ratified by the United States in 1993.

The Decision issued by CERD, and reconfirmed this year, urges the United States to immediately freeze, desist and stop any further actions against the Western Shoshone peoples, including legislative efforts to privatize their land. CERD ordered the United States to stop immediately and initiate dialogue with the Western Shoshone. The Decision specifically mentioned Mt. Tenabo and the destruction of Western Shoshone lands by mining corporations.

“In the 1800’s, the U.S. sent in the Calvary to remove the Indians and to kill off our sources of food, such as the Buffalo. Now here they are, just days before Thanksgiving in 2008, destroying our Mountain of life and the pinyon trees which are our food. This is happening today and it’s outrageous.” Says Joyce McDade, Western Shoshone grandmother.

Barbara Ridley, another Western Shoshone grandmother participating in the resistance states: Who’s Thanksgiving is this anyway? What have we got to celebrate? There’s no Thanksgiving for our people – they tell us we don’t have our land but we still use it for our foods, plants and ceremonies. This mountain is very important to us and people should respect our request to leave it alone.”

The plaintiffs are being represented in court by Roger Flynn of the non-profit legal firm, the Western Mining Action Project, which specializes in mining law. The Grandmothers’ Resistance Day will take place of the South Flank of Mt. Tenabo at the proposed mine site beginning at approximately 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 26th.

For more information on the Western Shoshone land rights issues, Cortez Hills Project, Mount Tenabo, and the legal challenge go to www.gbrw.org and www.wsdp.org.

TOP PHOTO: At the AIM West 40 year reunion, youths from DQ University sang the AIM song on Monday. Listen live at http://www.earthcycles.net/ and in San Francisco on 104.1 FM this week. The singers included Shaleen and Ed, both Long Walkers on the northern route in 2008. Bottom Photo: DQ activist with Tony Gonzales and Mike Flores listening to drum song. Photos Brenda Norrell

Monday, November 24, 2008

I have watched with keen interest and renewed hope as your campaign hasmobilized millions of Americans behind your message of changing apolitical system that serves a small economic elite at the expense of thepeoples of the United States and the world. Your election as president ofthe United States, where slaves and Indians were long considered less thanhuman under the law, will undoubtedly constitute a historic moment in racerelations in the United States.

Yet symbolism alone will not bring about change. Our young people, blackand Native alike, suffer from police brutality and racial profiling,underfunded schools, and discrimination in employment and housing. Isincerely hope your campaign will inspire some hope among our youth tostruggle for a better future. I am, however, concerned that your recentstatement on the Sean Bell verdict, in which the New York police officerswho fired 50 shots at a young man on the eve of his wedding were acquittedof criminal charges, displays a rather myopic view of the law. Until thelaw is harnessed to protect the victims of state violence and racism, itwill serve as an instrument of repression, just as the slave codesfunctioned to sustain and legitimize an inhuman institution.

As I can testify from experience, the legal institutions of this nationare far from racial and political neutrality. When judges align with therepressive actions and policies of the executive branch, injustice isrationalized and cloaked in judicial platitudes. As you may know, I havenow served more than three decades of my life as a political prisoner ofthe federal government for a crime I did not commit. I have served moretime than the maximum sentence under the guidelines under which I wassentenced, yet my parole is continually denied (on the rare occasions whenI am afforded a hearing) because I refuse to falsely confess. AmnestyInternational, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama of Tibet,my Guatemalan sister Rigoberta Menchu, and many of your friends andsupporters have recognized me as a political prisoner and called for myimmediate release. Millions of people around the world view me as a symbolof injustice against the indigenous peoples of this land, and I have nodoubt that I will go down in history as one of a long line of victims ofU.S. government repression, along with Sacco and Vanzetti, the HaymarketSquare martyrs, Eugene Debs, Bill Haywood, and others targeted by fortheir political beliefs. But neither I nor my people can afford to waitfor history to rectify the crimes of the past.

As a member of the American Indian Movement, I came to the Pine RidgeOglala reservation to defend the traditional people there from humanrights violations carried out by tribal police and goon squads backed bythe FBI and the highest offices of the federal government. Our symbolicoccupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 inspired Indians across the Americas tostruggle for their freedom and treaty rights, but it was also met by afierce federal siege and a wave of violent repression on Pine Ridge. In1974, AIM leader Russell Means campaigned for tribal chairman while beingtried by the federal government for his role at Wounded Knee. AlthoughMeans was barred from the reservation by decree of the U.S.-client regimeof Richard Wilson, he won the popular vote, only to be denied office byextensive vote fraud and control of the electoral mechanisms. Wilson'sgoons proceeded to shoot up pro-Means villages such as Wanblee andterrorize traditional supporters throughout the reservation, killing atleast 60 people between 1973 and 1975.

It is long past time for a congressional investigation to examine thedegree of federal complicity in the violent counterinsurgency thatfollowed the occupation of Wounded Knee. The tragic shootout that led tothe deaths of two FBI agents and one Native man also led not only to myfalse conviction, but also the termination of the Church Committee, whichwas investigating abuses by federal intelligence and law enforcementagents, before it could hold hearings on FBI infiltration of AIM. Despitedecades of attempts by my attorneys to obtain government documents relatedto my case, the FBI continues to withhold thousands of documents thatmight tend to exonerate me or reveal compromising evidence of judicialcollusion with the prosecution.

I truly believe the truth will set me free, but it will also signify asymbolic break from America's undeclared war on indigenous peoples. I hopeand pray that you possess the courage and integrity to seek out the truthand the wisdom to recognize the inherent right of all peoples toself-determination, as acknowledged by the United Nations Declaration onthe Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While your statements on federal Indianpolicy sound promising, your vision of "one America" has an ominous ringfor Native peoples struggling to define their own national visions. Iffreed from colonial constraints and external intervention, indigenousnations might well serve as functioning models of the freedom anddemocracy to which the United States aspires.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Earthcycles will broadcast live from the AIM-West 40 year reunion this week, beginning 10:30 am on Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. Producer Govinda Dalton and cohost Brenda Norrell will broadcast at http://www.earthcycles.net/ and on local 104.1 FM in San Francisco.American Indian Movement members gather all day on Monday at the San Francisco main library, with Bill Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk. AIM-West continues on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Baha'i Center, with an Unthanksgiving Feast on Wednesday. Everyone is welcome.The Alcatraz Island Sunrise Ceremony, hosted by the International Indian Treaty Council, will be at first light on Alcatraz Island Thursday morning. On Friday evening, AIM-West hosts a fundraiser concert.Meanwhile, the Shellmound walkers and Peace Walkers are on a two week walk in the Bay area. The Shellmound walkers will be at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland on Thursday at 10 am.Earthcycles will feature interviews from throughout Indian country, including Western Shoshone fighting Barrick Gold's plan to carve out their sacred Mount Tenabo. Local guests include supporters of the Berkeley City Council and its passage of the "No Border Wall" resolution. The issues of the Longest Walk will also be in focus, including protecting Mother Earth from power plants and mining, climate change, militarization of the US borders and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.From across Indian country, Paiutes are fighting to maintain their gathering and hunting rights; Kickapoo are struggling for their water rights; Navajos are fighting the Desert Rock power plant and the decades long devastation from relocation and coal mining. All along the border, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to survive as federal laws are voided to build the border wall. Meanwhile, private prison profiteering results in more migrants and American Indians in prisons. Sacred places are targeted for destruction as mining increases and corporations and political pirates seize federal and Indian lands in secrecy.All across Indian country, more people are homeless and hungry, while tens of thousands of wild horses are targeted to be killed who once roamed on lands seized for gold mining and oil drilling.Dalton and Norrell were cohosts of the Longest Walk Talk Radio across America, from Alcatraz to DC, for five months during 2008. The archives of interviews and songs are at http://www.earthcycles.net/This week's schedule:Monday all day, Nov. 24, 10: 30 am to 5:30 pm: Location – San Francisco Public Main Library, 100 Larkin Street. All welcome, press invited. Bill Means and Madonna Thunder Hawk. Issues from the south, national concerns, Treaty Rights, green economy, Mother Earth and UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.Tuesday all day, Nov. 25, 10 am to 5 pm: Location – San Francisco Baha’i Center, 170 Valencia Street (between 14th Street and Dubois Street). Land struggles today; Sacred sites; Manifesto for Change; fishing rights, subsistence gathering; political prisoners.Wednesday, Nov. 26, noon to 6 pm: SF Baha’i Center, Unthanksgiving Dinner, Special human rights awards. Keith Secola, Phoenix! Fancy Dancers, Medicine Warriors and All Nations Singers. Lehman Brightman, Patricia Bellanger, Little Wolf Bellecourt, Yvonne Swan, Charlie Hill and Max Gail.Thursday Sunrise, Nov. 27: International Indian Treaty Council, Alcatraz Island Sun Rise Gathering. Boats leave from Pier #31. Hornblower Tours (415-981-7625) Booths open 4:30 am or purchase online (recommended) http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/ Last boat over 6 am; return at 9 am. Shellmound Walkers at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland at 10 am.Friday Night Nov. 28: Fundraiser concert AIM-WEST. SF Baha’i Center, 6 pm to 10 pm: Dr. Loco and Rockin’ Jalapenos, The Bob Young Project, $10-20 slide scale.Information: http://www.aimwest.info/AIM-WEST INFO: Tony Gonzales – 415-577-1492; Volunteer to help: Peggy Lemke 408-625-0986; John Powers – 415-559-9724 and Mark Anquoe 415-566-5788Photo: Earthcycles radio bus at the culmination of the Longest Walk in DC, July 2008. Photo Brenda Norrell

Barriere Lake Solidarity presents: Taking Back the AirwavesFor many years Barriere Lake has experienced the loss of their land, language and culture. In 1961 they were squeezed onto a 59-acre reserve, in the 1970s they were forced to attend Residential School and since 1993 they have been fighting to have agreements with Quebec and Canada that promise the co-management of their traditional territory honoured.It's time Barriere Lake took something back…Join Barriere Lake Solidarity in helping Barriere Lake TAKE BACK THE AIRWAVES.Where: Independent Media Centre, 2035 St. LaurentWhen: November 29th, 7pm (Film Screening) & 9pm (Dance Party)FILM: A Little Bit of So Much Truth ************** DANCE: DJ Aaron Maiden & DJ MedjaCost: $5-10 sliding scale or DONATE AM/FM RADIO* Barriere Lake Radio t-shirts, drinks and snacks availableBarriere Lake Algonquins, with support from the Barriere Lake Solidarity Collective,are in the process of starting up a 15 watt FM radio station: Mitchikinabiko'inik Nodaktcigen (Radio Barriere Lake) on the Rapid Lake Reserve. The community is working to raise $3,000 needed to get this project off the ground. The primary aim of the project is to serve the Barriere Lake community, with the intention of strengthening language, autonomy, culture and traditions.

For more information: barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.comEmail: barrierelakesolidarity@gmail.com

'DAY OF JUSTICE' scheduled for Friday, November 28th at the Fargo Federal Courthouse.

On Friday November 28th, the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee will hold a demonstration called “Day of Justice” at the Fargo Federal Courthouse 110 Quentin N Burdick, 655 First Avenue North, Fargo North Dakota.

The “Day of Justice” will increase awareness about the case of Leonard Peltier and the fact that he has been imprisoned for 33 years. Not only was he convicted based on coerced statements, and false evidence Peltier has spent more time in prison for aiding and abetting than any reasonable person can justify. The “Day of Justice” is a call to action for concerned citizens to question why Peltier is serving two life sentences and has been imprisoned for more than half of his life.

The “Day of Justice” is about how laws designed for everyone are not equally applied. The US Bureau of Prisons is not following the law in regard to releasing Leonard Peltier on parole. Legally Peltier should have been released after serving 20 years; at the most he should have served 30 years, under United States Code Title 18 Sections 4205 and 4206 respectively. If justice is blind then the “Day of Justice” asks why Leonard Peltier is still in prison today. All people should be aware of the ability of this bureaucracy to ignore laws and hold model citizens long after the law states a release is due. Public Law 98-473 further states prison resources are, first and foremost, reserved for those violent and serious criminal offenders who pose the most dangerous threat to society of which Leonard Peltier is neither violent nor dangerous.

Featured speaker for the “Day of Justice” is Russell Means, a member of the Lakota Oglala Nation. Means has been on the forefront of organizing for the American Indian Movement since the early 1970’s. Means has acted in a number of movies produced in Hollywood, written an autobiography and led a delegation from the Republic of Lakotah to secede from the United States in December 2007. More information about Means can be found at his official websites of www.russellmeans.com and www.russellmeansfreedom.com.

Participants at the “Day of Justice” will hear from other speakers on the subject of Leonard Peltier’s case and how they can help seek justice for all political prisoners. Drum groups and musicians are also invited to be part of the program which is still growing. The “Day of Justice” will also include an event at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and possibly more locations worldwide. The Turtle Mountain Tribal Council recently passed a resolution demanding the release of Leonard Peltier to their custody immediately. The “Day of Justice” calls for the US Bureau of Prisons to recognize the sovereignty of Turtle Mountain and let Leonard Peltier go home now.

COINTELPRO: They Got Shut Down for Standing Upby Karima AminSent in by Leonard Peltier Defense Offense CommitteeFrom the late 1950's into the 1970's, the F.B.I. conducted a series of actions in a counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) designed to disrupt, discredit, and destroy certain individuals and groups in this country. The Communist Party, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.), the Black Panther Party, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (S.N.C.C.), the Black Liberation Army (B. L. A.), the Socialist Workers Party, La Raza Unida ("the Unified Race"), MOVE, the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) and others were among the targets. Dedicated activists who fought for justice were arrested for their political beliefs, tried in criminal courts, and incarcerated with exorbitant and punitive sentences. These political prisoners were effectively shut down for standing up. Though some of them still strive for justice behind bars, COINTELPRO has taken a toll on their lives.

During COINTELPRO's heyday, the F.B.I. didn't hesitate to use thuggery, unauthorized wiretapping, warrantless break-ins and searches, harassment, burglaries, manufactured evidence, witness tampering, infiltration, and even murder to neutralize the aforementioned organizations and their individual members. In 1971, F.B.I. agents, convicted for counterintelligence crimes, were pardoned by President Ronald Reagan. Their targets are still in prison, having now spent decades (30-plus years) behind bars. Approximately 100 men and women in the U.S. are political prisoners, for having taken a stance or expressing a view that the government deems objectionable. They dared to stand up, speak out, and struggle for the liberation and self-determination of oppressed people. The U.S. government does not recognize the designation of political prisoner; in the government's view, they are merely dissidents.

In the past, Prisoners Are People Too has presented programs on COINTELPRO, the San Francisco 8, Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and MOVE. Several PRP2 members have voiced their support for political prisoners: Lynne Stewart and Robert Seth Hayes. Unfortunately, the names of these individuals are rarely mentioned in the "real world" and their stories are even more rarely told. Most of us can't name five U.S. political prisoners and far too few of us are actively engaged in supporting/defending a political prisoner. Further, we make the mistake of assuming that what happened to them could never happen to us. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Nowadays, "The Patriot Act" and "Homeland Security" make it all the more likely for any one of us to come face-to-face with Amerikkka's ugly side. While alleging "freedom and justice for all", this country ignores the shameful realities of incarceration and rampant injustice for individuals and organizations that participate in the kind of revolutionary direct action that is needed to make changes in government or social conditions. F.B.I. agents who engaged in illegal activity through COINTELPRO, got a proverbial "slap on the wrist" and nothing changed. Political prisoners, their families, and communities have suffered for nearly forty years.

On Monday, November 24, 2008, at 6:30-8:30pm, at the Pratt-Willert Community Center, at 422 Pratt Street in Buffalo, Leonard Peltier's story will be told. Leonard Peltier was a COINTELPRO target because of his involvement with the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.). In 1977, this Native American activist was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two F.B.I. agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, near Oglala, South Dakota. Leonard and his supporters believe that he did not receive a fair trial and that his conviction and imprisonment were results of his activism. He is currently imprisoned in a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA. The documentary film, "Murder on a Reservation", from the Arts and Entertainment Channel's "American Justice" series will be screened. In the film, Leonard Peltier, F.B.I. representatives, and witnesses to the incident that led to the agents' death, tell their stories.

Our guest speaker will be Mr. Michael Kuzma, a Buffalo, NY defense attorney who has supported Leonard Peltier for several years. Mr. Kuzma practices in NY as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 8th, and 10th Circuits. He is seeking to obtain the release of 140,000 government documents concerning Leonard Peltier. Mr. Kuzma joined the legal profession believing that the law is a tool to bring about social, political, and economic change. He further believes that what happened to Leonard Peltier could happen to any one of us.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Thanksgiving the “Cortez” Way - U.S. Ignores Western Shoshone Objections – Barrick Gold Readies Itself to Carve up Mount Tenabo Spiritual Area

By Timbisha Shoshone, Western Shoshone and Great Basin Resource WatchPhoto by Erin Hetherington/Oxfamhttp://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/November 20, 2008RENO and CRESCENT VALLEY, Nev. -- Last week, after years of determined opposition from Western Shoshone, the U.S. Department of Interior, through its Bureau of Land Management (BLM), approved one of the largest open pit cyanide heap leach gold mines in the United States on the flank of Mount Tenabo – an area well-known for its spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone.

The area is home to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and ceremonial plants and items and continues to be used to this day by Shoshone for spiritual and cultural practices. Over the years, tens of thousands of individuals and organizations from across the United States and around the world have joined with the Shoshone and voiced their opposition to this mine. The mine has been referred to as one of the most opposed mines in the world and indeed the level of public opposition is unprecedented for the BLM.

With the threat of mine construction beginning as early as this week, the South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Great Basin Resource Watch, today filed a complaint in the Reno Federal District Court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the mine.Barrick Gold Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, plans to construct and operate the mine, known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project. The Project area is located entirely within the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 900 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo (in order to keep the open pit and mine workings dry during mining) and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land.“How are we, as a nation, showing our values, if we allow a transnational corporation to destroy this ‘church’ for all time, just to get 10 years worth of gold.” Says Larson Bill, Vice-Chairman of the South Fork Band Council. “There are dozens of active gold mines on Western Shoshone lands already, there is no need for this one, which is clearly immoral and irresponsible. The public should be aware that Nevada is not a waste land, but is the home of ranchers, sportsmen, fishermen and homesteaders that have enjoyed the lands alongside the Shoshone people for generations. We have been clear in our opposition to this mine and while Barrick tries to cloud the real issues with gifts and money, we continue to oppose this project – they have not bought our people, the traditions nor the lands of the Shoshone.” he adds.The proposed mine area has been found by the BLM, in repeated ethnographic studies, as being of extreme spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone. One report says: “Mt. Tenabo is … considered a traditional locus of power and source of life, and figures in creation stories and world renewal. As the tallest mountain in the area – the most likely to capture snow and generate water to grow piñon and nourish life – it is literally a life-giver. Water is to earth what blood is to the body, and these subterranean waterways are likened to the earth’s arteries and veins.”Carrie Dann, a world renowned Western Shoshone elder, and recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (known as the “alternative Nobel Peace Prize”) has been among those to lead the fight to protect Mount Tenabo from mining for over 15 years. “Mount Tenabo should be left alone – no further disturbance. This mine will drain the water from Mount Tenabo. They will be sucking the water out of the mountain forever. The destruction of the water is like the destruction of the blood of the earth; you are destroying life of the earth and the people and wildlife that depend on it. Dewatering is taking the life of future generations. Water is sacred, all life depends on it,” says Carrie Dann.“Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving - The question that the courts and the people of this country need to ask themselves is will we continue to tolerate these violations against the First Peoples of this land or will we finally turn the tide of injustice and protect these sacred areas?” Says Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Consultant to the Western Shoshone Defense Project.“None of us are opposed to mining, if it is done responsibly, however this project is as irresponsible as it gets. The BLM has a legal responsibility to protect the air, water, and ecological values of the area as well as the religious freedom of Western Shoshone, and to fully analyze the impacts of a proposed project. In each case, this mine would clearly violate the law.” Says Dan Randolph, Executive Director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “This is an example of how the Bush Administration is rushing to protect their corporate friends in their last few months in power. The BLM denied requests to extend the comment period on the Environmental Impact Statement not only from us, but also from several Western Shoshone tribal governments. Therefore, we are forced to now turn to the courts to stop this project. We know that Barrick will begin work on the mine as soon as they can, to cause enough harm in an attempt to make the religious rights arguments moot, and the BLM and Bush Administration appear to be more than willing to help them in every way possible.”The plaintiffs are being represented in court by Roger Flynn of the non-profit legal firm, the Western Mining Action Project, which specializes in mining, public land, and environmental law.For more information on the Cortez Hills Project, Mount Tenabo, and the legal challenge go to http://www.gbrw.org/ and http://www.wsdp.org/For Immediate Release:Contacts:Larson Bill, South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone, 775-744-2565/775-397-6726Dan Randolph, Great Basin Resource Watch, 775-722-4056Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-397-1371

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) illegally approved plans by Shell Offshore Inc. to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea off the north coast of Alaska according to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. The court previously blocked activity under Shell’s exploration plan while it considered arguments that the plan presented substantial risks to polar bears, endangered whales, and subsistence-hunting communities.

Today’s order sends Shell’s drilling plan back to MMS to meet legal obligations to fully analyze and disclose impacts from drilling on the rapidly changing Arctic environment.

A coalition of Alaska Native organizations and conservation groups sued to halt drilling because large-scale industrial activities threaten endangered bowhead whales, polar bears and other marine animals in coastal waters just off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“We are very pleased that our case prevailed today,” Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of the REDOIL Network commented. “We strongly opposed the plan due to our relevant concerns related to the violation of subsistence rights of Inupiat by the proposed offshore development of the Beaufort Sea . The plan to drill offshore has been on a fast track without proper review of the impacts to the bowhead whale and Inupiat subsistence way of life which is so interconnected with the ocean. This victory upholds the inherent subsistence right of the Inupiat way of life.”

“Today’s decision shows that our system works. MMS is now required to complete environmental review, as required by the law,” said Betsy Beardsley of the Alaska Wilderness League. “This review is essential. New data shows that a large portion of Alaska ’s bowhead population, currently listed as endangered, uses the area Shell wants to drill.”

The Arctic is undergoing major shifts due to climate change. Summer sea ice is retreating rapidly – reaching record minima during the past two summers. The changes raise major concerns about the survival of wildlife – such as the polar bear – that call the Arctic home. In spite of these dramatic, observed changes, however, the Bush administration charged ahead, opening this fragile environment to oil and gas activity, without following environmental laws.

“If polar bears and other ice-dependent species are to survive as the Arctic melts in the face of global warming, we need to protect their critical habitat, not turn it into an industrial zone,” said Rebecca Noblin of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Robert Thompson, Kaktovik resident and REDOIL member states: “It is a relief that the Court at least makes MMS go back and analyze the potential impacts of Shell’s plan. Noise and traffic from drilling has the potential to harm our subsistence way of life. The costs of drilling in the Beaufort Sea will lie with the local communities of the North Slope . Shell Oil consistently has not answered our questions. Offshore drilling plans and Arctic Refuge development are interrelated issues. It is my hope that the ocean and the land will be saved for future generations of Inupiat.”

Shell had been granted permission by the MMS to drill as many as twelve wells over the course of three years using multiple drill ships, ice breakers, supply boats, and aircraft. During the first year of the plan, Shell had proposed to drill wells in an area important to migrating endangered bowhead whales and to subsistence harvest of Inupiat villages along the Beaufort Sea .

“This is yet another signal that the Obama Administration needs to revisit the nation’s energy policy,” said Whit Sheard, Alaska Program Director for Pacific Environment. “We simply can’t allow giveaways to Big Oil, such as the 70 million acres offered in the Arctic, to pass for an energy policy—especially in an area where our addiction to fossil fuels is already endangering wildlife and threatening traditional communities.”

“This decision shows oil companies can't get away with killing animals and destroying communities’ sources of food without owning up to it. This type of devastating oil exploration just isn’t worth it,” said Charles Clusen, director of the Alaska project for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“This decision confirms the Bush administration rushed to approve Shell’s drilling plan without doing a full review of impacts to endangered whales and the subsistence way of life of people in the region,” said Eric Jorgensen of Earthjustice.

Nov. 19, 2008. If Canada is such a peace loving country, why is it saber rattling and playing war games like "Vigilant Shield 09"? Huge military exercises are taking place on Turtle Island this month. These are being run by "NorthCom" and "NORAD" [North American AeroDefence Command]. NorthCom works with "Canada Command" and coordinates civil incidents through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security DHS. This has nothing to do with Afghanistan. It has to do with "civil" control, not democracy. The Canadian part is called "Determined Dragon, Trillium Response". [What bunch of jerks made this one up? Sounds like some kind of teenage fantasy video? These guys are scary!]

In the U.S. during a "disaster or emergency" JTF-CS operates within a Department of Defense chain of command that begins and ends with the President of the U.S. Canada is on this dog chain. In other words, it gave up its independence. Civilian agencies, including "State, local, territorial, and tribal [band] governments, and private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure," would be controlled by the military. They define the "disaster" that will lead to world domination.

What's going on here? Details are scarce, especially on the Trenton Air Force Base aspect which is near the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga. Another exercise is going on in Hamilton, near Six Nations. Another in Thunder Bay. Are there others? Is it a coincidence that these are mostly next to Ongwehonwe communities?

The main focus is "Communications Interoperability" to coordinate various agencies: the military, Joint Task Force JTF, army, navy and air force; all police agencies, RCMP, OPP, CBSA, "Aboriginal" police, municipal police; emergency responders, ambulances, fire trucks, rail security and select government bureaucrats; and the effected private sector such as nuclear reactors. "Interoperability" means coordinating all their goons and thugs to have "Joint War Games".

It looks more like an exercise designed to set up the infra structure needed to impose "martial law". Communications and radio frequencies will come under one command. The new device called the "Incident Commanders" Radio Interface looks like a cigar box, about 5" x 8" x 2". It can be held by one wired-up adolescent to receive and send messages to all these agencies during an emergency, natural or man-made disaster, including a "terrorist attack". But who and where are the terrorists? The only scary guys in the neighborhood is them!

NORAD is the North American AeroDefense Command, a U.S.-Canada control center based in Colorado, that is supposed to warn of an attack by aircraft or missiles. ProjectHAARP is the Pentagon-run "High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program" with plans to heat the earth's ionosphere, using high frequency radio waves. How do we know they haven't already been doing this? The military can send signals to nuclear subs and spy deeply underground [www.haarp.net]. This is based near Anchorage, Alaska where military exercises are going on too. E Systems which is owned by Raytheon has the defense contract to run this. [They're the biggest arms makers and dealers in the world.]

It's all scripted. The U.S. has a "Hollywood Style" National Training Center NTC in California and Joint Readiness Training Center JRTC in Louisiana. They're not teaching peace. They're teaching warfare against Iraq and Afghanistan and whoever else gets in their way. Hi fi simulations are created, complete with mock towns and actors portraying natives and insurgents. One actor even dresses like a "tribal sheik". Bombs are exploded and rockets stream in from the countryside. Civilians scream and scatter. The victims wear gory make up to simulate bloody wounds and morbid deaths. Injured civilians are left behind by the soldiers. The soldiers secure the town before going in to meet with the "regional governor", supposedly "to win over the locals" but actually to get information from him in exchange for money. The young natives are taken away to Abu Ghraib for questioning. [It has already been established that the methods used there include torture and death]. Observers judge and grade each performance. Our question is who are the "traitors" who help them set up these scenarios?[www.worldpoliticsreview.com] Are these same guys writing the script for Bin Laden and Al Qaida too? Meanwhile the Taliban will just have to keep on improvising!

In Canada in the 1990s, after the Mohawk-Oka Crisis, a mockup of the Mohawk community of Kahnawake was created at a New Brunswick army base to help soldiers practice warfare on us. Who played the Mohawks? Who played the cowardly treasonous band council? It gets worse! In Saskatchewan the target at the police shooting range was a stereotypical Indigenous woman.

Doing so many exercises in our communities is meant to desensitize us to the presence of armed soldiers over, around us and in our back yards. We forget the danger. We'll be close targets when the guns are turned on us.

Even more sinister is that these exercises can act as a cover for "real"/pretext events such as 911, the London bombings and the Oklahoma City bombing. It was hard to sort out what was real and what was an exercise. Cities where exercises have taken place such as Seattle are considered as being "prepped" for martial law.

These exercises involve hundreds of people, dozens of vehicles, boats, UAVs, helicopters and planes. Thunder Bay is the furthest inland port where large ships can load and unload and where rail and truck lines meet. Right now nuclear reactors are arriving here on their way to the Alberta oil sands. Rumors abound that these exercises will involve a simulated nuclear attack. At the same time US exercises are taking place in Alaska near the HAARP weather modification installation and in California where wild fires are now raging.

The Thunder Bay exercise will combine a severe weather event and emergency situations to create various scenarios. The first part will be an incident with a container ship along the federal port. Simulated will be collapsed buildings, human casualties, and toxic spills. The second will involve a rail incident. Simulated will be a response to a train fire/explosion and resulting toxic spill. Of course, they're trying to recruit Ongwehonwe for the military because they want "expendable" people to do their dangerous work.

For this, National "Defense" [offense?] will transport the Toronto Heavy Urban Search and Rescue group to Thunder Bay on a Globemaster aircraft: between 400 and 550 military personnel from the Immediate Response Unit (IRU) and 63 Domestic Response Company to arrive on 22 Nov. 2008 and leave by 25 Nov. 2008.

Involved may be the local civilian authorities such as "primary responders", provincial authorities, imbedded media, the Coast Guard (to provide fire fighting and power generation), the RCMP and Naval Reserve divers. Included are "personal development activities"! [Steve Carroll, National Defence, 416-633-6200 ext. 5808, Fax: 613-631-5349 Carroll.SL@forces.gc.carefer to CEAR 08-01-39685]

Our Haudenosaunee territory includes many "strategic infrastructures" such as nuclear reactors, nuclear waste stockpiles, chemical factories, rail hubs and harbors. The Great-Lakes St. Lawrence is a major industrial area. The military needs the nuclear stockpile. By the way, whatever happened to the 500 tons of yellowcake that was dumped off in Montreal harbor last July 2008? It was in the papers. Then we never heard about it again.

Government agencies and actors roped into this "war movie" include Public Safety, Health Canada and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Guess what? Indian Affairs is in there like a dirty shirt? Why? This is coming right out of our budget for desperately needed clean water, housing, education and medical care. The "chain of command" starts at the Pentagon. Peter "Flat-Foot" Fisher of the Aboriginal Policing Directorate at Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada is the link to the "aboriginal police" involved in the exercise [613-990-2666 fax: 613-991-0691].

The recent horrific crash that killed three non-natives at the Cornwall Ontario border checkpoint in Akwesasne last week was a similar multi-"service" operation, by the Canada Border Services Agency CBSA, the Ontario Provincial Police OPP, the RCMP and the Akwesasne Mohawk Police. The guys on steroids with guns and fast cars are obviously trying to take control.

The Mohawk Police were chasing and ramming the van driven by the 21 year old non-native youth that ended in a dramatic fiery fatal crash. The cops created the kind of catastrophe they say they are protecting the public from. Two days later, while military exercises were going on in Hamilton, there was another strangely similar high speed chase of a non-native into the 6 Nations community which ended up in a crash and shoot out. Is this coincidence or was it planned?

We're still waiting for answers at Akwesasne. Why didn't ambulances and nearby fire trucks take action immediately? Why did the Mohawk cops go straight for the load of cigarettes and not help the victims? Why were witnesses told to stop talking to the media about anything they saw? Was this staged to make an excuse to bring in the outside colonial agencies that don't have jurisdiction but we can't seem to get rid of? Watch out! They might be installing surveillance devices everywhere, like they did in Kanehsatake, or planting weapons to come in and raid us.

What's going on? Are these lunatics trying to bring martial law into our communities because the colonists are saying we can't handle the bedlam they're creating? The fascist method is to isolate and eliminate the source of greatest resistance to their plans. Let's face it, folks, right now one of the main resisters is the freedom loving Ongwehoneh. The military interest in us could have something to do with the fact that all the land and resources of Turtle Island belong to us. In the US militant groups are getting more scared and more armed. Frightened people with guns is a dangerous scenario! Nobody wants that.

ASK THE POLITICIAN ABOUT: rerouting 401 traffic in Toronto; evacuations; Lake Ontario ships, subs and planes, UAVs; dangers of fires and smoke; how many soldiers? how many US?; how many cops and others?; telecommunications: controlling the airwaves, radio "Incident Commanders"; Radio Interface from a "cigar box"; are the Mohawks a "trial run" or something bigger like martial law?; what are the"terrorist" scenarios?; are they part of the weather, hurricane or earthquake scenario?; what are "Critical Infrastructure Protection", like nuclear reactors, oil refineries, etc.; What do drugs & cigarette busts have to do with it?; do exercises demonstrate US flexing, resolve and capability to protect U.S. military power & national interests?; how do they feel about complaints to try to prevent a "false flag"or "pretext" event like 911 or the London bombings?; "Exposure to live ammo so that the participants handle it with a fear and reverence..." http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/050/Viewer_e.cfm?CEAR_ID=39685

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Paris Auction House Selling Hopi Sacred Items in December

Standing Rock Camp Tonight

Photo by John Heminger. US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said, "Just landed in Bismarck. It's 10 pm, 26 degrees, airport is FULL of veterans coming in from all across the country."

Water Protector in Surgery, Doctors Trying to Save Her Arm

A concussion grenade hit a water protector on Sunday night, now doctors are struggling to save her arm.

Hundreds of Water Protectors Injured, Shot with Water Cannons in Freezing Temperatures Sunday Night

North Dakota Cops Get 'Doxed' and Don't Like It

Labor Union Workers Arrive to Support Standing Rock Camp!

Sat. Oct. 29 -- "Water is Life," Union workers say now. Watch live.

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Censored News Copyright Notice

Copyrights of Censored News content are maintained by all writers, photographers and anyone whose work appears on Censored News. No content may be used without permission. No content may be used in any revenue scheme. brendanorrell@gmail.com

Dine' Stand with Standing Rock 'No DAPL'

Dine' CARE's journey to Standing Rock Camp.

Obama Approved Pipelines to Mexico now Destroying Indian Site in Big Bend, Texas

Obama gave a presidential permit to the same company that bulldozed Standing Rock burial place. It is now destroying an ancient site in Texas.

As Dakota Access protests escalated, Obama approved pipelines to Mexico by same company

The Rose of Love

"O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold." --Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Faith

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Censored News

Censored News was created in 2006 in response to censorship by Indian Country Today. Longtime ICT staff writer Brenda Norrell was censored repeatedly, and terminated in 2006. Now in its 11th year, with more than 13 million views, Censored News publishes a collective of Indigenous and other grassroots writers focused on human rights. Censored News is a media whistleblower site. Censored News has no grants, sponsors or advertising. It is totally reader supported. brendanorrell@gmail.com